Archive for March, 2009

www.pokerroom.com – I know I am probably not alone in my thinking at the moment, but I have recently wondered if I am perhaps playing differently to how I should in the latter stages of MTT’s. in the last two days I have played in two such tournaments, reaching 24th out of 298 in the first, and 29th out of 328 in the second. It is nice to make it into the money of course, but also frustrating not to make it to the final table.

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it often seems to me that I have a tendancy to tighten up as the blinds increase if I have built a strong stack in the first hour or two. I suppose this could be the problem, as despite ensuring I make it deep into the tournament, I am simply not taking enough risks to build a stack that can carry me to the final table. You could argue that it is important to be stealing blinds and making a raise with marginal hands preflop when in position to, and I think that this is probably what I will attempt next time I am in this position.

Perhaps it is a general flaw in my play that I always try and sense danger and make good folds, but then this in itself is imperitive to surviving in MTT’s. But having said this, you can still practice caution if faced with a big raise on the flop, whilst also making strong plays preflop too.

As with most things, I guess it is simply a case of striking a balance. I tighten up too much when the blinds starting getting big I feel, and shall work on this aspect in the coming weeks.
Recent success in live events has not been plagued by the same problem interestingly, and so perhaps it is best to examine my live play and look at where the differences lie. Pokeroom.com

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www.fulltiltpoker.com – After the the past few weeks action I felt a partial break was deserved this week. Thats not to say I have not played at all of course, that would be unthinkable. Besides which, I have to pick up points in our local poker league table.
Having played two less games than most people on the table as I was unwell for a little while, my position is 14th place out of 41. This weeks action did not improve my position greatly however, as I really couldn’t find a hand all night.

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In an hour and a half of play, the biggest Ace I picked up was (Ah,9h) and the biggest pair was (10,10) with which I picked up only the blinds. Sometimes I suppose you can turn up with all the aspirations in the world for your evenings game, but if lady luck stonewalls you, you can’t really pick up many chips. I guess it would be unfair to say I had no luck at all though. After three players had flat called the blinds and I was getting short stacked, I decided to make a risky all in shove from the big blind with (8c,4d) and walked into (A,A). I do not know why the player didn’t raise with them, but if it was because he felt I was going to push my shortstack in, it was a great read. Luck was on my side on that occasion as I picked up three 4′s on the turn and completed a Full House on the river. This week I will hopefully have a better time of things at our local event, and will perhaps catch up on some cash play with some friends, hopefully, with better results. fulltiltpoker.com

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